“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””
Some tend to think being a person of faith means that your mindless. That you just go around blindly following a list of rules you don’t completely understand and live dedicated to a being you’ve never seen. I get it, because some do, but that is not the correct way to be a follower of Christ. Your walk with God should be thought provoking. Again, I get that some have perpetuated that having faith means just shutting your brain off, because the carnal mind can’t fully understand the spiritual things of God.
While the latter part of that statement may be true you’ve got to adjust that just a little bit. God gave you your mind to use for his glory. Just like your body its desires and cravings have to be checked by the truth of God’s word and led by the Spirit of God to do what God has called you to do. This takes the action of your mind to choose God’s way. Even when our mind doesn’t fully understand it.
Paul says in Philippians 2:5 “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” What he expresses there is thought. I like the way the Message Bible says it. It says, “Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.” These particular verses are talking about Christ walking in humility, but my point is that this was not a thoughtless process. God is a thinker and created us to use our minds to think as well. He doesn’t call us to follow Him and not use our brains. What God does do is work with us to reshape the thinking of our minds to be more like His.
Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” God wants us to use our minds for his glory. Not try to outthink Him or find clever ways around His plans. That is what the devil tries to get us to use our minds for. God wants to cleanse our minds and give us a new way of thinking to get us closer to Him. This is the process of sanctification. It is not a one time thing like a magic trick. ALAKAZAM!! Poof! I’m sanctified. No. This is a continual process for the believer.
You must continually work to renew your mind and become more and more sanctified. This walk with God is a journey. Don’t let anyone by any means trick you into thinking they’ve got it all together or are perfect. We are all on this path of sanctification. Some may be further along than others, but none of us on this earth have reached the final destination.
I bring all of this up because of this verse in Joshua where he talks about mediating on the law of God day and night. He didn’t say literally read my word day and night. If you can do that then fine, but this isn’t about just reading your Bible. Yes. Read your Bible, but you need to think on God’s word. Constantly churning around in your head the things God has spoken to you and that you’ve learned from His word.
There’s an old saying where they talk about cows chewing the cud. Cows chew on some grass, swallow it, bring it back up and chew on it some more. They do this to get as much of the nutrients out as possible. This is how we are to digest the truth of God’s word. Not only in our retention of the Bible itself, but also in how we apply it in using our gifts or in our vocations. Constantly chewing so we can pull some nutrients out for whatever task is before us. Meditate on it day and night, because God can give you something at any time to sharpen you for whatever God has called you to or task you have to take on.
That leads us to our Throwback Song of the Week. We’re headed over to the west coast to some pioneers in the Christian rap battle game. The duo of Dax Reynosa and Jurny Big aka L.P.G. (Living Proof of Grace). The founders of the legendary Tunnel Rats crew. This is from their final project released in 2003 entitled “The Gadfly”. The featured track is called “Just Another Day”. To me this track is so poetic, because they describe the struggle of creating from the aspect of night and day. Tune into the Trackstarz show this Saturday to hear DJ Jeremaya spin this for the Throwback Song of the Day. Until next time…
Peace and blessings,
Damo
